5 Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come. 8 When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment. 9 He will prove to them that sin is not believing in me. 10 He will prove to them that being right with God comes from my going to the Father and not being seen anymore. 11 And the Helper will prove to them that judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged.
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but they are too much for you now. 13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come. 14 The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me, because he will take what I have to say and tell it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take what I have to say and tell it to you.
Read John 16:5-15 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
For those of us who have ever wanted a concise list of the Holy Spirit’s job description, Jesus shares some things that John records for us in several verses during a conversation Jesus has with the disciples on the night He was arrested. In this list, Jesus describes several things that the Holy Spirit will do when He comes, and some of these things may surprise you.
Jesus first gives a brief three part overview of the Holy Spirit’s role. Jesus describes what the Holy Spirit does by saying, “he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment.” (v. 8)
However, before allowing us to be confused about any of these three tasks, Jesus explains each task briefly by saying, “He will prove to them that sin is not believing in me. He will prove to them that being right with God comes from my going to the Father and not being seen anymore. And the Helper will prove to them that judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged.” (v. 9-11)
Each of these three descriptions is startling when we think about it. Not believing in Jesus is sin. I wonder if this may be connected with the infamous “unpardonable sin”. I don’t mean to say that unbelief at any point in our life causes us to miss out on salvation, but if we don’t believe at the point our life ends, then we ultimately end up dying in our sin. This makes unbelief the most serious sin that one could ever commit.
Jesus also describes the Holy Spirit proving to us that the only way we can be right with God is through Jesus returning to God. Other parts of the Bible describe Jesus as our “Intercessor” or our representative. Jesus is like a lawyer who is working on our behalf in the courtroom of Heaven. If He were not there, we would be defenseless against the accusations Satan would bring before God.
The third thing Jesus emphasizes about the Holy Spirit is that He will prove to God’s people that the judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged. Jesus says this in the past tense, and this is prior to the cross. This means that either Jesus is speaking about the past from a future perspective (a little tricky to prove or wrap our minds around), or Jesus is saying that Satan was judged at some point in the past. If we are looking at history before the cross for a point when Satan could have been judged, we could see that it might be either when he was kicked out of heaven, or when God cursed him (the serpent) following the fall of humanity.
Regardless of when that judgment happened, Satan has been judged and found guilty. But before God executes Satan’s punishment, history and sin must play out to determine who else is found guilty of death. This includes everyone, but Jesus opened the way to be saved through His sacrifice, through His work as our representative in heaven, and through our accepting His gift by believing and trusting in Him.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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